Girl with a pearl earring. Alexandre Desplat

Vermeer (Colin Firth) is a talented yet tortured painter, trapped in a loveless marriage to the whiny, perpetually pregnant Catharina (Essie Davis), domineered by his mother in-law (Judy Parfitt), and harassed by his lecherous patron and chief source of funding, Van Ruijven (Tom Wilkinson). However, into Vermeer’s household comes a young peasant girl named Griet (Scarlett Johansson), who after a while becomes more interested in Vermeer’s work, and in Vermeer himself. Gradually, the two become attracted to each other, and Griet begins to “sit” for Vermeer, resulting in the famous painting, much to the disgust of his wife, and Griet’s potential suitor Pieter (Cillian Murphy).

A sort of combination of the undulating strings of John Williams’s with the romantic minimalist stylistic of Philip Glass, or Michael Nyman’s more approachable works, Girl with a Pearl Earring gently captivates the listener with cue after cue of shimmering string work, iridescent harp scales, an array of sparkly chimes and glockenspiels, and haunting themes which capture the period beautifully. Moody woodwinds play an important part, notably in the central piece, ‘Griet’s Theme’, which pits an introverted bass flute melody against eddying strings, before embracing a kind of Glass-style starkness.